2014 Tallahassee Tennis Challenger Qualifying Preview
Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast
For the third year in a row, Tennis East Coast will have live on site coverage from the USTA Tallahassee Tennis Challenger, which again this year is the final stop on the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge.
The American man who posts the best results across 3 Har-Tru green clay tournaments (Sarasota, Savannah and Tallahassee will be awarded a main draw wild card for Roland Garros. A host of other players will be competing and our on-site coverage starts Monday and runs through Wednesday. In the meantime, here is a look at the Men’s qualifying, which starts Saturday morning and is free to the public.
23-year-old Italian lefty Erik Crepaldi, the world number 422, is the top qualifying seed. His best result of note was a futures title last season in Cyprus and he also made a futures semifinal in Turkey this season, splitting his time between hard and clay courts. He gets a bye and faces the winner of former SMU Mustang Adham El-Effendi vs. 17-year-old Alex Rybakov, one of the top-tier American juniors who is top 50 in the ITF junior standings and nationally ranked as a top 5 high school tennis recruit.
Either Crepaldi/Rybakov/El-Effendi will face will face one of Ryan Agar, the 7 seed who gets a bye into round 2 of the qualies, or Takura Happy/Sebastian Bader for a spot in the main draw. Happy is a current Florida A&M player, while Bader and Agar are both 26-year-old journeymen who share the same coach, according to the ITF.
20-year-old former French Open Junior champion Bjorn Fratangelo is the number 2 qualifying seed. The young American, who is very comfortable on clay, qualified at the Savannah Challenger last week and his best result as a professional is a challenger semifinal last year on clay in Brazil. Fratangelo will face Anderson Reed or Franko Skugor for a spot in round 3 of qualifying. Reed is a Florida State player and Skugor is a former top 150 as recently as 2011. He’s had injuries that derailed his improvement. He’s been struggling this season, but has a challenger title and an ATP quarterfinal (Bastad 2011) on his resume. He’s also reasonably accomplished on clay. Fratangelo/Skugor/Reed will face one of Eric Quigley/Benjamin Lock/Courage Okungbowa for a spot in the main draw. Former Kentucky Wildcat Quigley is the seed and gets a bye into round 2. Lock is from Zimbabwe and a current Florida State Seminole and he will face current Florida A&M player Okungbowa in a battle of collegiate players in round 1. Okungbowa is a well-respected 18-year-old Freshman.
Former top American junior Mitchell Krueger, who like Fratangelo is 20 and is at a career high ranking inside the top 450, is the number 3 seed. He gets a bye into round 2 and will face local high school player Allen Vinson or former South Florida player Mark Oljaca in his first match. Krueger came up just short of qualifying in Savannah and would like to do one better in Tally.
Krueger/Vinson/Oljaca will take on one of former Louisville player Andrew Carter, British doubles specialist Sean Thornley or the seed Nikita Kryvonos, who 11 years ago was a promising American junior that had his career derailed by injuries for a spot in the main draw. Kryvonos gets a bye into round 2 and faces the Thornley/Carter winner.
Former Michigan All-American Evan King is the 4 seed. He gets a bye and will face the winner of Florida State player Jordan Kelly-Houston, who hails from New Zealand vs. local Tallahassee high school recruit Terrell Whitehurst, who has verbally committed to Florida State. King/Kelly-Houston/Whitehurst will face one of former Florida Gator Sekou Bangoura, Mico Santiago, another 20-year-old American, or Bethune-Cookman graduate assistant Emil Vassilev for a spot in the main draw.
As with most challenger qualifying draws, things are lopsided in some parts, but there are bound to be competitive matches throughout.
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